


just a touch of your love is enough

by rosekatxo



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 21:12:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15276294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosekatxo/pseuds/rosekatxo
Summary: Follow-on from 12th July, after Charity and Vanessa made up. Tracy and Johnny find out that Charity was hurt.





	just a touch of your love is enough

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a while, but that last scene of yesterday's ep was the softest thing i've ever seen in my life and i just couldn't resist some more family cuteness (because charity and johnny own my heart)
> 
> i haven’t written vanity in a month or so, so if this is ooc then apologies!! hopefully i’ll be more inspired to write now the drought is over

“Only us!”

Vanessa shifted her weight slightly, turning as best she could to face the door without disturbing her girlfriend. Charity was dozing lightly, curled up on the sofa with her feet tucked underneath her, head resting on Vanessa’s upper thigh. One hand still loosely gripped the ice pack the vet had thrust at her upon getting back to Tug Ghyll, just about keeping it in place on her swollen jaw.

As Tracy and Johnny came into view, the latter’s eyes lighting up at the sight of Charity, Vanessa immediately shushed them. “We have to be quiet, darling, Charity’s sleeping. Okay?” she warned the toddler gently, satisfied when he nodded solemnly. Taking one last glance at the sleeping woman, he bounced over to the toybox in the corner of the room and began playing quietly.

Vanessa leant back against the cushion, watching as Tracy crossed the room. Her sister’s eyes widened almost comically as the swirling bruises around Charity’s mouth caught the light, mouth dropping open in shock.

“What the hell happened to her?” Tracy demanded, Vanessa shushing her once again but this time to no avail. Charity began to stir, raising her head from the vet’s lap a fraction before wincing.

“Sorry,” Tracy flashed them both an apologetic glance, which Charity waved off absent-mindedly.

“S’fine,” she yawned, sitting upright and bringing the ice pack back into place. “Nice to know you’re still concerned about me after what I did back there.”

“Well, you didn’t go about it very well, but none of this is your fault,” Tracy shrugged. “I’ve kept it to myself for weeks, at least you had the balls to confront her. Anyway, that’s not the point. Are you okay? Who did that to you?” The care and concern in her tone was eerily reminiscent of Vanessa, and coming from the younger blonde, especially in the current circumstances, it surprised Charity.

“Our _delightful_ stepmother punched her in the face, then pushed her into the bins,” Vanessa scowled, fists subconsciously tensing at the thought. Charity’s hand found hers, squeezing gently. The smaller woman relaxed slightly at her touch, anger visibly abating.

“She did what?!” Tracy was on her feet before either woman had the chance to react. “First she cheats on Dad and makes me keep her dirty little secret, then she attacks Charity? I’ll _kill_ her,” she growled, but she’d barely managed two steps forward before Charity blocked her path.

“Oh no you won’t, missy. This is my fight, not yours. And anyway, she did take me to the dentist afterwards,” Charity offered, unwilling to go into what exactly happened during those few hours. Megan had, strangely enough, become a confidant that afternoon, and she wasn’t prepared to jeopardise that trust by letting Tracy go shooting her mouth off.

“She wouldn’t have needed to if she hadn’t punched your teeth out!” Tracy exclaimed in disbelief.

“Yes, I know that, thank you. But you storming off to have it out with her now isn’t gonna help any of us, is it? Megan knows she’s screwed up big time, trust me.”

Charity threw herself back down onto the chair, sensing that Tracy’s initial anger had dissipated slightly. Vanessa pulled her closer, one hand winding into her hair comfortingly.

“So you’re just gonna let her get away with it?”

At Tracy’s question, Charity exchanged a glance with Vanessa. She’d already filled her girlfriend in on what had happened on her and Megan’s little road trip, but Vanessa knew she wasn’t ready for the world to know about Ryan just yet.

“Look, Charity and Megan need to sort their issues out themselves, don’t you?” Charity nodded. “All we can do now is look out for Dad – as well as look after the worst patient in the world, that is,” Vanessa joked.

“Who, me?” Charity retorted sarcastically. “I don’t know what you mean.” Vanessa shot her a sardonic glare.

“Er, how about the way you flinched every time I tried to take a look at those bruises? And how you whined like Moses when he’s hungry because the ice pack was too cold? Oh, and then those painkillers the dentist gave you which knocked you out for a good two hours.”

Charity pulled a face. “Alright, Doctor Woodfield, we get it, you’re a regular Florence Nightingale.”

Tracy snorted from across the room. “She has a nurse’s outfit somewhere, I’m sure she could put it to good use…”

Charity’s face lit up with a wicked smirk as she winked at her girlfriend. “Maybe later when Johnny’s in bed, hey babe?”

“Shut up, you two,” Vanessa huffed, a pink tinge flooding her cheeks like it did every time Charity and Tracy teased her. Stretching out her legs, slightly dead from the weight of her girlfriend’s body, she rose to her feet. While Charity was distracted pulling faces at Johnny across the room, she took the opportunity to stroke her girlfriend’s face gently, wondering if the swelling has started to go down yet.

“Ow!” Charity exclaimed, flinching at the pressure of Vanessa’s hands on her tender jaw. “That bloody hurts!”

“I’m just checking it’s not getting any worse,” the vet explained, as though she was talking to a child. “Stay still!”

Charity batted her away again.

“Ger’off! If you want to be useful, you could always make us a cuppa? I’m parched.” She smiled sweetly at Vanessa – as sweetly as she could manage with a swollen jaw - who rolled her eyes.

“Fine, but you’ll have to drink it through a straw. You shouldn’t be using that side of your mouth yet – and before you say anything else, please remember my sister and child are in the room.” Charity gasped in mock offence.

“Vanessa Elizabeth Woodfield, get your mind out of the gutter,” she drawled. Tracy chuckled as she joined her sister at the sink, Vanessa muttering under her breath at them both despite the hint of a smile playing on her cheeks.

Grinning to herself, Charity slumped down against the arm of the sofa. Her eyes fluttered momentarily shut, the effects of the painkillers (and the remnants of the hangover she hadn’t quite managed to shake off) weighing her down slightly.

Before she could find her voice to tease Vanessa again, however, she felt a small hand on her thigh. Opening her eyes, she saw Johnny hovering in front of her with a frown, hesitant and inquisitive just like his mother.

“Hey, Johnnybobs,” she smiled, hoping the sight of her with a bloodied face didn’t scare the poor kid away.

“Cha’ty hurt?” He placed both hands on her knees this time, trying to get a closer look at her injuries. Charity leant down and picked him up, hauling the toddler onto her lap.

“I’m fine, babes. No need to worry about me,” she reassured, tickling him in his weak spot until he giggled. Her hands fell loosely onto Johnny’s hips, attempting to keep him in place, but he slipped out of her grasp and onto the sofa beside her, kneeling until he was level with her head.

Charity turned to face Johnny, about to ask him what he was up to when he reached out a chubby hand and poked her cheek rather ungracefully. She couldn’t help the involuntary gasp of pain when his hand came into contact with the largest bruise, eyes filling with unwanted tears as she inhaled deeply.

Vanessa’s head snapped up at the noise, Tracy also stilling at the sharp intake of breath. Both pairs of eyes met Charity’s, waiting for her reaction.

“God, you Woodfields are all the same aren’t you?” the barmaid joked, trying to cover up the pain. “Nosey little buggars.” Tracy chuckled, throwing in a “too right”, as Vanessa looked torn between amusement and annoyance.

“Johnny, don’t poke Charity so hard. Go careful, you don’t want to hurt her,” she admonished, pointing a finger at her son. He looked between Vanessa and Charity, confusion evident in the way his eyebrows knitted together, a miniature version of his mother.

“Johnny not hurt Cha’ty,” he shook his head determinedly. “Johnny make it better.”

He clambered back onto Charity’s lap, tiny hands clutching her waist, and stretched up to plant a sloppy kiss on the blossoming bruise on her jaw. It still hurt, and Charity’s eyes filled with tears yet again, but this time of an altogether different kind.

She pulled Johnny into her arms, his body fitting snugly around hers, and looked into those bright blue eyes, a mirror image of his mother’s. Sensing the tenderness of the moment, Vanessa moved towards them, eyes sparkling as she watched the two interact. As Charity met her gaze, she was hit by a sudden realisation that for the first time in weeks, everything felt _right_. 

She’d always been missing something, seeking some unknown truth, but now she’d finally found it. Love, comfort, acceptance, reassurance – everything that Vanessa offered her, that Johnny gave her by extension because he’d learnt it from his mother. And now – well, now she finally knew what that felt like, and she never wanted to lose it.

“All better now?” a small voice piped up as Johnny nestled further into her arms.

Charity reached for Vanessa’s hand, hoping the smaller women could feel all the words she couldn’t say in just one look.

_I care about you. I’ll fight for you. I love you._

“Yes,” she whispered, dropping a kiss on the top of his soft head. “All better now.”


End file.
